By: Omolara Osindele

Junior Staff in the Ogun State Civil/ Public Service have been charged to be productive, loyal, focused, disciplined and above all, develop themselves personally without necessarily waiting for their employers for optimum service delivery.

The Ogun State Head of Service, Dr. Nafiu Aigoro gave the charge while declaring open a 2-day capacity building workshop for newly promoted Junior Staff, themed, "Skills for High Performance in the Public Service", put together by the Bureau of Establishments and Training, Office of the Head of Service, in conjunction with D5 Consulting Limited, held at the Staff Development Centre, Oke-ilewo, Abeokuta.

According to him, this cadre of officers must improve themselves by taking advantage of online trainings here and there rather than spending their resources on frivolities, must be productive at their duty posts and do not engage in truancy, absenteeism, late coming among other vices.

He said trainings in the State are not organised for jamboree, but to meet specific needs, based on identified gaps, revealing that it has been observed that attention needs to be paid to the development of Junior Staff, because this category is usually the first contact with visitors to Public offices and whatever impression formed about them by the visitor rubs off on the entire Public Service.

The Head of Service said since the junior staff of today are the future Management Staff, qualities and attributes that are built in them today will eventually be exhibited at Management level, hence, they should be well trained today in order to have a performing Management Staff  tomorrow.

"The Junior Staff category is a vital part of the Public Service. It is therefore not enough for some parts of the workforce to function optimally while others are not. All categories of the workforce of the Public Service must be well lubricated for overall functionability and optimum productivity.

"Although government will not relent in its efforts to train staff, I must emphasise that it is self development that stands an officer out. As Junior Staff, you have ample time on your hands to further your studies and acquire necessary skills that will stand you out in the future; but rather than spending time on self and career development, most of you have devoted your time to social media. The danger in that is that social media tend to detach people from their immediate environment, which leads to absent mindedness, commission of avoidable errors and generally poor performance at work" Dr. Aigoro cautioned.

In separate remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr. Jola Oyeneye, and his counterpart from the Civil Service Commission, Mr. Adedayo Somoye appealed to the participants not to mess up the opportunity of the training by been distracted but should play their roles very well so that they can be remembered for good because without them, certain things won't work in the offices.

They enjoined them to properly utilise all they gain during the training and have a positive change of mind while discharging their statutory duties at their different MDAs.

Earlier, in a welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Establishments and Training, Mrs. Lydia Fajounbo, appreciated the State Governor for prompt approval of training files, revealing that there's no request made for training that was turned down, which shows the high premium the government places on staff empowerment.

She urged the participants to keep upscaling themselves as trainings make them achieve better results, while new skills are acquired for efficient service delivery.

In separate interviews, participants including Mrs. Funmilayo Ogidan from the Ogun State Sports Council, Mr. Taiwo Popoola from the Ogun State Water Corporation, Mr. Bayo Adegboyega from the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation and Miss Esther Fatoyinbo submitted that the training had exposed them to new perspectives on how to go about their daily schedules and promised that focus, discipline and putting in their best in all they do will henceforth be their watchwords.

They appreciated the State Government and the organisers of the training for the wonderful end of year package given to them and requested that the training be made a consistent affair and not a one-off programme for optimum service delivery.